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Easter Video ($4.95)
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He is Risen Indeed,
Matthew 28:1-10,
by Rev. Thomas N. Hall (see
below)
God's Has No
Witness Protection Plan, Acts 10:34-43,
by Rev. R. Quinn
Don’t Fence Me Out,
Acts 10:34-43 by Rev. Thomas Hall
God Does Not Play Favorites, Acts 10:34-43, by the Iowa Star
Pulling all the Stops For Jesus,
Acts 10:34-43 and John 20:1-18,
by Rev. Frank Schaefer
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Easter
Sunrise Sermon , John 20:1-18, by Lutherfetch
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Why Are You
Weeping? John 20:1-18,
by Rev. Thomas Hall
Looking for the
Wrong Thing in the Wrong Place, John 20:1-18,
by Rev. Randy Quinn
It's a Miracle!
John 20:1-18, Jim from B.C.
He Is Risen--Now what? John 20:1-18,
by HW in HI,
Easter Street, John 20:1-18,
by Jeffrey K. London
Irrational
Exuberance, John 20:1-18, by Neill Morgan
Resurrection Power,, John 20:1-18, by John
Running in the Dark,
John 20:1-18, by Ed in WA
Is It Easter
Already?, John 20: 19-31, by Gary Roth
Skits/Readings:
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 He is Risen Indeed
a sermon based on Matthew 28:1-10
by Rev. Thomas N. Hall
Today is that one time in the
year when the pastoral staff out-numbers the congregation. We end up with more preachers
than congregants! We all get into the act and become preachers on Easter Sunday. And have
we preached a whale of a sermon this morning! The choir has preached to us in four-part
harmony, the lectionary readers have proclaimed the story. And did you see what
happened right at the beginning of our service? This parade of people walked through the
middle of this congregation bearing altar candles, white paraments, offering plates, and
that big Bible that sits on the lectern. In their own way our processional has proclaimed
visually what the musicians have proclaimed audibly: Christ is risen! And did you hear the
preaching from the orchestra pit? The sermon came out a tad jazzed up thanks to the brass
and percussion sections. We heard the sermon in bold pizzicato; in other places that tune
was plunked, whacked, honked, bowed and trilled. Even our orchestra has preached a
powerful sermon.
Yes, the entire congregation becomes preachers on Easter. Your raised voices, your
presence in this place, your joy have preached the most eloquent sermon of all. We don't
need another sermon . . .
that raises and debunks resurrection theories . . .
or preaches about caterpillars becoming butterflies . . .
or empty egg shells with chicks peeping out . . .
It's hard to improve on Mystery. We can affirm
God's faithfulness even when we don't have all the answers. So your sermon has preached
loudly and clearly that Jesus Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed!
But just in case someone may still be a bit out of the loop as to what we've been
preaching for the past twenty-five minutes, I'm going to ask you to help me. Everytime I
say, Christ is risen, you respond by saying, He is risen indeed! Now just a
note of caution. This is one of those occasions when you don't want to be too polite.
There is great power in number when we say together what we affirm and hold to be true.
Remember, you're on the pastoral staff this morning. So I invite you to throw caution to
the wind on this Easter Sunday morning and preach the sermon with me. Whenever you hear
those three words, Christ is Risen, please respond with the four words, He is
risen indeed! Ready for a trial run? Christ is risen . . . he is risen indeed!
That is our sermon and that is our faith. That call and response tells us that God is
faithful. Was, is, and will be faithful to us.
Matthew tells us that on the first Easter morning, two women make their way to the to
the graveside of Jesus. We are told that they have come “to look” at the grave.
But why? Why would two women want to come unaccompanied in the early hours to a cemetery?
Maybe they sought a quiet place to reflect upon the past days' events? To be as close to
their master as they could. But standing inside a cemetery at 4:00 am is not my idea of a
quiet, reflective place. Wouldn't that place give anyone the creeps? But perhaps they went
because they wanted to give Jesus a decent burial. That's what Mark's gospel suggests.
Jesus was dead. So they'd gone to honor their fallen hero. That's the least they could do.
Give the man the dignity that the Romans stripped from him Good Friday. These women had no
clout with the Roman authorities—they could not offer Jesus a proper burial. The
Sabbath had further frustrated their plans. So this morning they move toward the cemetery
under the cover of darkness to pay their final respects.
But have you ever considered that maybe; just maybe they went to the cemetery because
they expected the resurrection to happen? After all, they must have overheard Jesus
speaking about rising from the dead. On three occasions Matthew lets us in on Jesus'
vision of the future that once in Jerusalem he would suffer many things from the elders
and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. So the women
here probably caught wind of the conversations. Maybe, just maybe they had enough faith to
believe that Jesus had survived death. [continue]
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